Surprise Partie
New Year's Eve 1968 "Surprise Partie" with The Who, Small Faces, Booker T and the MGs, The Pink Floyd, The Troggs, The Equals, Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac and French band Les Variations. The program may have been a novel idea for its time but it also seems to show mid 60s pop culture in the last throes of its show-business trappings and on the cusp of the new age of rock. 1968 is remembered as a chaotic and revolutionary year - in France it almost brought the downfall of the government - but a musical revolution was also brewing which would affect all the bands here. 1968 can be seen as the last year in which rock'n'roll would still be seen as teenage "entertainment". The rock revolution of 1969 was about to turn it into an "art form" to be taken seriously and the hitherto "underground" hippy culture would go mainstream at Woodstock. The stage was set for change and some of the bands seen here, like The Who and Fleetwood Mac, would reinvent themselves and ride the new wave. Others, like The Troggs or The Equals, would soon find themselves cast adrift by the new rock cognoscenti who found their lightweight punk pop to be frivolous and ephemeral. The transformation of The Who is perhaps the best example of the changes about to occur. They'd had a run of top 20 hit singles from 1965 to 1967 but had suffered a year long commercial dry spell in 1968. They were even starting to look washed-up. Yet at the time of this (mimed) performance of old hits they were just months away from releasing their rock opera Tommy, triumphing at the Woodstock festival and becoming one the great 1970s stadium rock bands. It's also worthy of note that this show took place only 3 weeks after the band's stunning and show-stealing live performance in the Rolling Stones Rock'n'Roll Circus film. They didn't know it yet but The Who were about to have their most successful year ever in 1969. Unfortunately for the The Small Faces things looked bleaker. They were only weeks away from breaking up and this performance is possibly their last for TV. Singer and guitarist Steve Marriott, aware of the way rock was about to change and frustrated at being unable to shake off the band's Lazy Sunday / Itchycoo Park novelty "pop" image, went off to form rock boogie kings Humble Pie and conquer America. The Small Faces eventually cracked it by recruiting Rod Stewart and Ron Wood and reinventing themselves as the Faces. Note - Look closely here, you can see Pete Townshend and Keith Moon sitting at the back of the stage - no doubt offering encouragement or the occasional acerbic witticism. Fleetwood Mac were about to leave the blues behind and find considerable crossover success with chart hits like Albatross and Man of the World. The Pink Floyd, however, were still finding their way after the loss of Syd Barrett 12 months earlier and were now on the way to becoming the premier live space rock band of 1969 - to which the live half of Ummagumma (recorded 5 months later) would be excellent testament. Joe Cocker, like The Who, was to find super-stardom the following summer when he put in a stunning performance at the Woodstock festival. The Troggs and The Equals, who might be about to find the new rock revolution a little tougher going, are certainly on fine form here and perhaps act as a portent of the late 70s punk era's return to the ethics of power and simplicity. France's Les Variations are worth noting. This show was actually their TV debut and they soon left behind their rather splendid garage punk posturing here and started to write harder rock material that showed a strong north African and Moroccan influence. They became one of France's most successful bands of the early 70s and also the first French rock band to tour America and sign with an American label. All performances are live except The Who and The Small Faces who mimed for some reason. Did their gear get lost on the Channel ferry? The Booker T and the MGs set is outstanding although there seems to be a bit of a mystery with regard to the date. The Stax / Volt tour of Europe with the MGs, Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas and Sam and Dave was in early 1967. Did the MGs return on their own the following year? The Equals, who were one the UK's first racially integrated bands, perform a frantic set of soul stompers. Fleetwood Mac are also on fine form with Jeremy Spencer, in full-on Elmore James mode, taking the lead on two of the three songs. Les Variations are simply classic 60s garage rock. Playing before an, at times, wildly enthusiastic home crowd this is an impressive TV debut. I'm sure many of those present would even have claimed that they stole the show. The artist order and tracklisting. The WHO (mimed) 01 - I’m A Boy 02 - I Can See For Miles 03 - Magis Bus Roger Daltrey : vocals Peter Townshend : guitar, vocals John Entwistle : bass Keith Moon : drums The SMALL FACES (mimed) 01 - Odgen’s Nut Gone Flake 02 - Song Of A Baker 03 - Rollin’ Over Steve Marriott : guitar, vocal Ian McLagan : keyboards Ronnie Lane : bass Kenny Jones : drums BOOKER T & The MGs live at “Bibelot", unknown date” 01 - Green Onions 02 - Hooker Loo Booker T Jones : organ Steve Cropper : guitar Donald “Duck” Dunn : bass Al Jackson : drums PINK FLOYD live at “Bilboquet" - Paris, Sept 7, 1968 01 - Let There Be More Light David Gilmour : guitar, vocals Richard Wright : keyboards, vocals Roger Waters : bass, vocals Nick Mason : drums The EQUALS 01 - Softly Softly 02 - Equality 03 - Baby Come Back Derv Gordon - lead vocals Lincoln Gordon - guitar Eddy Grant - guitar Pat Lloyd - bass guitar John Hall - drums Les VARIATIONS 01 - Around & Around 02 - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love 03 - Satisfaction Joe Lebb : vocals Marc Tobaly : guitar Jacques “Petit Pois” Grande : bass Jacky Bitton : drums The TROGGS 01 - I Can’t Control Myself 02 - Peggy Sue 03 - Somewhere My Girl Is Waiting Reg Presley : vocals Chris Britton : guitar Pete Staples : bass Ronnie Bond : drums JOE COCKER live at "Tour de Nesle" - Paris, unknown date 01 - I Shall Be Released 02 - With A Little Help From My Friends FLEETWOOD MAC 01 - Homework 02 - My Baby's Sweet 03 - Dust My Broom Peter Green : guitar, vocals Jeremy Spencer : slide guitar, piano, vocals Danny Kirwan : guitar John McVie : bass Mick Fleetwood : drums Other artists who performed on the show included: Davy Jones, Marie La Foret, Jaques Dutronic, Aphrodite's Child, Antoine, Herbert Leonard, Johnny Haliday, Francoise Hardy (performing À quoi ça sert, Où va la chance, Suzanne) and PP Arnold (performing If You Think You're Groovy)